Eternal Night Lord!

Only after Quehou left the wooden hut did Chen Fan stand up and begin taking inventory of what was inside. He had sent Quehou out to solicit travelers only on the off chance it might work. In truth, he knew full well it was useless. Dusk was already falling, and travelers across the surrounding wasteland would have found an outpost to settle in long before now. Yet this outpost had managed to endure for so long. Perhaps the previous stationmaster had left behind some ghost stones. But after turning the entire hut inside out, he still hadn't found a single one. The cabin was bare to the extreme. A wooden bed. Dry rations and water enough for two people for three or four days, a table, and a chair. Aside from that, there was nothing else. A true dead end. "..." Chen Fan sat in the chair and fell silent for a long time before making up his mind. He had noticed a small earthen mound nearby. The view from up there would be much better. Once the sun rose tomorrow, he could climb the mound to look for travelers; perhaps he could draw in passersby that way. Such a method might provoke discontent from neighboring outposts. However, the Chen family was by no means small, and their name should be enough to bluff any rivals. Even if it failed, he had no other choice. He was already teetering on the edge of death; worrying about every little thing would be worse than simply ending it himself. Right at that moment— A sudden tremor of dread struck his heart. Instinctively pushing open the door to look into the distance, his fears were confirmed... A thick, encroaching darkness was sweeping in from the horizon at terrifying speed, devouring the dusk like a bloodthirsty monster. Nightfall in this world did not arrive through a slow, gradual shift between light and dark. It shifted almost instantly. Like a jar of black ink dumped onto a sheet of white paper. And once the darkness descended, countless ghost creatures would emerge within it. "Quehou!" Seeing this phenomenon for the first time, Chen Fan's expression shifted slightly, and he instinctively started to shout for Quehou to get inside. Yet there was no sign of him outside the door. Only after scanning the surroundings did he spot Quehou, stumbling and dragging himself across the wasteland toward the hut! He was a full hundred meters away. Quehou was crippled, after all, and appeared to be injured on top of that. His progress was agonizingly slow. At this rate, there was no way he would reach the hut before the darkness engulfed him. Trailing a pace behind Quehou was a middle-aged man in a blue-green robe, hands clasped behind his back. The man walked at an unhurried pace, a faint, ambiguous smile in his eyes, seemingly entirely unbothered by the suffocating darkness about to descend just behind them. "Phew..." Chen Fan drew a deep breath. With an ugly grimace, he weighed his physical state against the dwindling time, and then, without a shred of hesitation, dashed out of the hut and sprinted full tilt toward Quehou! The moment he stepped several meters away from the cabin, a shuddering terror instantly flooded his mind. He could even smell the rich tang of blood in the air and feel an uncanny chill crawling down his spine! Driven by fear, he ran even faster than usual. Reaching Quehou, he didn't waste a single word, hoisting the servant onto his shoulder in an instant. Fortunately, Quehou was thin. Straining under the weight, Chen Fan could still manage. "Fuck!" Chen Fan couldn't help but roar, venting his pent-up terror and defying the unknown horror. He glanced instinctively toward the dense darkness surging rapidly from the horizon. With no time to spare for the traveler Quehou had brought back, he lowered his head, shouldered Quehou, and bolted wildly toward the hut! One step... Two steps... Never had he felt a hundred meters could be so far. Finally! Just as he distinctly felt the darkness brush past his back like something tangible, he plunged into the golden ring of light. His legs gave out and he tumbled onto the ground, struggling to scramble up as he panted heavily, staring at the scene before him with lingering terror. Darkness had completely engulfed the outpost. The light radiating from the ghost fire formed what looked like a translucent golden eggshell, sheltering the entire wooden hut within it and casting a golden circle on the ground. Outside the ring of light lay pitch-black, suffocating gloom where visibility dropped to zero. No moonlight, no clouds. There were only hair-raising noises drifting in from time to time, and pale, razor-sharp claws flashing past through the shadows. The Eternal Night... had arrived. Only now— did Chen Fan notice the middle-aged man in the blue-green robe. Standing inside the golden circle, the man looked at the two of them with a half-smile. "Phew..." Chen Fan took a deep breath. The moment he had seen Quehou out in the open, he knew the boy must have risked his life to climb the mound and look for travelers, where visibility was far better. But now was not the time to dwell on that. After rising and composing himself, he turned to the robed man and spoke in a deep voice. "This is Outpost No. 37 of the Jiangbei Chen family. "Those who are not of the Chen family must pay one ghost stone to stay the night. If you are a member of the Chen family or an ally, you must present a Jiangbei Chen family travel token." He could tell that the man before him was no ordinary mortal. "How wonderful." The blue-robed man retrieved a ghost stone from his robes and flicked it into Chen Fan's hands, smiling. "Seeing the two of you reminds me of my own struggling days. Once upon a time, I fought just as desperately as you, risking life and limb for a single ghost stone. "Does your outpost have only one room?" "Yes." Chen Fan nodded. "This is just an ordinary outpost." The man gave a nod and said nothing more, simply turning around, walking into the wooden hut, and shutting the door behind him. ... Only after the man entered the hut did Chen Fan forcefully suppress the surge of excitement within him. He could clearly feel his heart pounding wildly—not merely because he had earned a ghost stone, but more importantly... His golden finger had arrived! The instant the man flicked the ghost stone into his hands, a warm current surged through Chen Fan's body, forming an archaic bronze panel deep within his mind. - [You have obtained 1 Ghost Stone.] [Eternal Night Lord Panel activated.] [You may consume ghost stones to upgrade, construct, and enhance various structures within your territory.] [Current structures within the territory...] [Level 1 Ghost Fire]: Safe diameter: 10 meters. Upgrade requires 10 Ghost Stones. [Currently available: 5 Basic Structures, 1 Special Structure...] [Level 1 Bear Trap]: Deals a certain amount of damage to low-level ghost creatures. Construction requires 2 Ghost Stones. - "Phew..." Chen Fan gripped the ghost stone tightly in his hand, gazing out at the dense darkness beyond the ring of light as he drew deep lungfuls of the chilly air. At this moment, he looked thoroughly disheveled, his clothes covered in dry grass, yet his eyes shone with brilliant resolve! He knew he now possessed the key to surviving in this world. However... It was merely a key. How long he could truly survive depended entirely on how he used it! Without lingering any further, he walked over to the ghost fire. Three ghost stones lay quietly within the flames. Two of them were still intact. The other had grown rather dim. Under normal circumstances, these three ghost stones were enough for him to survive three nights on the wasteland.